Leaning into BIPOC Disability Dance Community

An Interview with How We Move cohort artist Devin Hill

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOS BY WHITNEY BROWNE

Devin Hill is a dance artist based in Washington, DC, where they perform, educate and advocate as a freelance dancer. They were a 2025 cohort artist of How We Move, a program for multiply marginalized disabled artists to move together, collaborate, and build cross-disability community. Here, Devin reflects on how How We Move shifted their understanding of their dance advocacy; that leaning into the BIPOC disability dance community is where they want to put their energy going forward instead of working in predominantly white able-bodied spaces.

This interview is part of a series on How We Move.

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How did you get into dance and what shaped you as an artist?

I am a freelance dance artist, teacher, and advocate currently based in Washington, DC, and originally from Dallas, TX. I was born with a rare eye condition called achromatopsia. When I was young, I didn’t have very good fine motor skills and had issues walking. My doctors at the time didn’t know what was happening or what was causing it. When I was three years old, my aunt suggested to my mom to put me in dance to help with balance and coordination. I literally started dancing to learn to walk.

I danced in a studio for a long time until I was about 11 or 12. I stopped because I was experiencing ableism. I started dancing at the only Black-owned dance studio in Dallas in the 90s. I was embraced by everybody. Then I moved to another studio that was predominantly white in a closer area to where my mom worked. That’s where I experienced a lot of ableism; I even had a teacher tell me dance was not for blind people. I ended up quitting until high school when I needed an elective and found dance again. I took more dance classes in college. It became a fulltime passion. I got my degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, came back to Texas for a while, and ended up in Washington, DC. During the pandemic was when I started to get more into dance advocacy: educating the dance world about what accessibility is and creating spaces that are truly accepting of all people.

What was your experience of How We Move?

Going into How We Move, I wanted to have an open heart. I knew it was probably going to be an experience that would change my life. When we started doing the online meetings, so much of it was us starting to open up about who we were as people and talking about collective access. I feel like so much of access conflict was worked through. A lot of people think that access conflict is negative, when in reality it’s not. It’s how you take multiple access needs in one space and find the middle ground. We worked in depth on finding how we could find the middle ground together by establishing community agreements, making sure we felt safe, knowing access would change in real time, and being able to establish relationships with the How We Move team. We knew it was going to be an experience that would shift every day. The online meetings set our foundation for how we would work with each other for holding collective access.

When we transitioned to the in-person intensive, we realized it was much bigger than ourselves. It became deep and spiritual and connective. I realized I had walked into a truly safe space. I have been in so many spaces, both abled and disabled, and this was unlike any other because it was all BIPOC disabled artists. It opened the space for me to explore who I am more. The biggest thing I didn’t realize was how much I was still struggling with my identity as a Black, queer, and disabled person. Whether it was us talking about our life experiences and struggles, having fun moments, or learning from each other, it was a powerful force of people coming together who have always felt we weren’t supposed to be in the room. Over those two weeks, I found my place.

I didn’t realize that a lot of the advocacy work I’ve doing for the past five years was through able bodied and white people to prove to them that my work is important. It hasn’t really been working. I didn’t understand what wasn’t connecting until How We Move when I realized I needed to come back to my own community to keep advocating. It became a healing experience I never expected. It was one of the deepest connective moments of my life where I could be everything I am unapologetically. I truly found parts of myself I hadn’t yet discovered. I have more love for myself than ever because of the collective access and connectivity.

Why are programs like How We Move important?

When we talk about inclusivity and equity and diversity, you can’t leave accessibility out, and in a lot of ways it has been left out. In a lot of ways, accessibility is seen as only for disabled people, that not all people have access needs. Programs like How We Move go against the systemic oppression we deal with in dance, that we have to have a certain body type, that our hair has to look a certain way. Dance is often about what you’re able to do, but dance was never meant to be something commodified and exclusive. It’s innately a part of who we are as people. Programs like How We move bring us back to that. It helps us understand that dance is meant to bring us together. Dance is part of how we revolutionize and make change. How We Move is pushing that change forward and making spaces for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to be there.

Will your experience of How We Move impact your artistic practice going forward? If so, how?

It’s definitely something I’m still processing. It was so deep and so much happened in such a short time. I realized I want to come back to my own community more. It’s a hard thing to realize that as a marginalized person, you learn to become closer to whiteness in order to find success in your career. On some level I knew that, but I didn’t realize that was what I was trying to do to bring legitimacy to my career and myself as a person. How We Move broke that down for me. I’m feeling this sense of homecoming. I’m coming home to my true self and identity. I don’t have to rely on people who are more privileged than me to make change. My future leans more into the BIPOC disability dance community so I have support and can show up authentically.

What’s next for you? Do you have an upcoming project or focus you’d like to share more about?

Nothing official, but I’m talking about doing something with Embraced Body, which was one of the organizations that created How We Move. I really connected with them during the intensive and it feels like something that will grow and develop. I’m also looking forward to doing panels and continuing work with some of the other How We Move participants. We all want to stay connected. I have some future work coming up with Kayla Hamilton, which will focus on blind and visually impaired movers and what our contribution is. I’m possibly looking at doing some work with fellow DC artists exploring disability and robotics. I’m a person who is always doing something and trying to find new things. In terms of advocacy, I’m hoping to start doing more work in the dance convention world, as there’s not a lot of disability representation there.

Any other thoughts?

I am so grateful for How We Move and for the disabled artists who are paving the way in order for artists like me to come to the forefront. I never thought about bringing my disability into my art until I met Kayla Hamilton. I was trying to blend in, and I’m starting to realize how important my experience is to my artistry because it’s a part of my humanity. I’m more excited about exploring what my disability has to offer than ever. I don’t know what that looks like, but I feel like How We Move has awakened that curiosity. It has taught me how to trust-fall into my community. I feel unapologetically myself, and the spaces where I can unapologetically be myself do exist. My hope for the future is there will be more spaces like How We Move because we need it, whether you’re able bodied or not. We all have needs, and they should be embraced and talked about. Dance is a reflection of life. Access is part of that.

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To learn more about How We Move, visit www.embracedbody.com/hwm.

Follow Devin on Instagram @mydisableddancelife.

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